Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, was arrested late afternoon on July 29th in Portland, Oregon. He was witnessed as part of a crowd size that was estimated to be around 500 individuals.
Carter was seen by several media outlets as well as recorded on cctv, setting fire to the city of Portland’s, Hatfield Courthouse.
Carter was seen and heard screaming obscenities as he was taken away in handcuffs and placed in the back of a Portland City police car. Along with his arrest, 7 other individuals were arrested and charged. Other rioters proceeded to deface the courthouse with graffiti and breaking windows, as the suspects were hauled away.
Carters first appearance took place the following day, at 9:00 am, (July 30th) Thursday morning in front of Judge Kenneth Knarp III. Bail was set at $100,000 and as of the time this article was written, Carter has failed to post bond.
Sources have revealed that Carter is planning to stay in custody and not pay the bail in an attempt to shed light on the movement to dissolve cash bail. Many demonstrators have been arguing lately that bail is nothing other than a “cash grab”, organized by our government to make money. Carter sees this as an opportunity to assist with the cause and concerns surrounding cash bail practices.
Carters attorney was available for comment and stated “Dwayne Carter has been wrongfully arrested”. “Although several witnesses and the courthouse cctv system recorded footage of Carter setting the fire, he’s just being targeted because of his fame and skin color”.
Carter’s attorney is confident that he will get the charges dismissed and plans on counter suing the city of Portland for wrongful imprisonment and racial profiling. As of the time this article was written, Carter has been charged with failure to comply with a lawful order, two counts of destruction of federal property and arson in the first degree.
An attempt was made to reach out to carter’s family members for comment but unfortunately, they were unavailable. Sources have confirmed that his family members are currently vacationing in the Bahamas and do not wish to be disturbed during their Holiday.
As of July 30th, Carter will be spending a minimum of 95 days behind bars with his next court date scheduled for Monday, November 2nd. Unless his attorney is able to get the charges dismissed, prior to his next court date.
We will continue to provide updates for this story, as soon as further details are made available.